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A MODERN PHENIX 



A MODERN PHENIX 



By 

GERVE BARONTI 

w 




THE CORNHILL COMPANY 
BOSTON 






Copyright, 1917, by 
The Cornhill Company 




DEC 31 1917 

S''Ci.A50191)4 



To 
PAUL RUTLEDGE BANNER 



CAST OF CHARACTERS 

In the order in which they appear 

Mary Milleb 

Lottie Thompson 

Peter Graham 

Mrs. Miller (Mary's Grandmother) 

Iazzie, Graham (Peter's Mother) 

Minerva Thompson (Lottie's Mother) 

Phyllis Leighton 

Chubby 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Mb. Leighton 

Mrs. Leighton 

Russell Leighton 



FIRST ACT 

SCENE I 

AHE shore of a lake, farm-house at a short dis- 
tance away — Mary Miller (a child of fourteen) is 
driving stakes in the sand. She is building a hut 
which she intends to cover with pine houghs. Pine 
boughs are thrown around the stage in the vicinity of 
Mary. Off to the right, staring dreamily into va- 
cancy, is Lottie Thompson. 



A MODERN PHENIX 

FIRST ACT 

SCENE I 

Mary 

Lottie, come and help me drive these stakes in 
the sand. I want to finish the house before Peter 
returns. 

Lottie 

(Without moving.) I wish you would let me 
alone, Mary, when I am travelling: I was just 
leaving the Palace to ride out with the Prince in 
such a wonderful carriage; and oh, such a wonder- 
ful Prince, tall and handsome, with plumes in his 
hat and great silver buckles on his shoes. Oh 
Mary, how could you? 

Mart 

My grandmother says that you should not 
dream this way in the daytime, with your eyes 
open. Yesterday I heard her telling Peter's 
mother that she would be glad when your mother 
came home, because she is afraid that you might 
do something. 

[1] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Lottie 
Do something? 

Mary 
Yes, something terrible. 

Lottie 

I won't do anything terrible, Mary. I never 
dream anything terrible — my dreams are all nice 
ones. Beautiful ladies, and beautiful gardens, 
big blue oceans with ships sailing away trimmed 
with golden sails, and people on board playing 
lovely music. Everything should be pretty, 
Mary — and everybody should have a pretty face. 
I love the people who have pretty faces. 

Mary 

How do you dream things, Lottie? I watched 
you the otherday and I tried to dream, too. I sat 
where you are now, and looked out over the sea 
the way you do and up into that tall pine tree and 
just waited, — but no dream would come. 

Lottie 

Oh, I don't have to sit here and look at the sea 

or the pine tree. Why the dreams come any place. 

Sometimes when people are talking to me a dream 

comes along and I can't hear what they are saying. 

[2] 



FIRST ACT 

Mary 

I wish I could have a nice dream just to see how 
it feels, and — 

[Enter Peter. 

Peter 

Hello, girls, — sa,y, Lottie, Mary's grandmother 
just had a letter from your mother, and she is com- 
ing home tonight. 

Lottie 
Oh, is she? 

Mary 

Won't you help me, Peter. I can't make this 
house all alone. I have gathered lots of pine boughs 
to put on the top for a roof, and grandmother said 
that we could have the sail from Uncle Dick's old 
boat to put around the sides. 

Peter 

Let's all work and we will have it made in no 
time. 

Mary 

Lottie is dreaming of a Prince with silver shoe- 
buckles, and — well — she just can't help — 
[3] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Peter 

(Looking wistfully across to where Lottie is sit- 
ting.) Gee, I wish I was a Prince! 

Mary 

What are you saying, Peter? 

Peter 

{Ignoring.) Wait a minute, Mary, that stake 
isn't straight in the sand, let me do it — there now 
— that's better. 

Mary 

Won't it be a dandy house? I'll be the mother, 
Peter, and you'll be the father — and Lottie can be 

— let's see — 

Peter 

Oh, Lottie can be the grand lady who comes to 
visit us — and she must always be sad because the 
Prince had to stay at home and could not come 
with her. 

Mrs. Miller 

(Calling from the house.) Come, children — sup- 
per will be early tonight. Grandfather must go to 
the station to meet Lottie's mother. Come, come 
quickly; bring Peter with you. 

[Children leave stage. 
[4] 



FIRST ACT 

SCENE II 

A. SITTING room in a farm-house. Mrs. Miller 
and Mrs. Graham are knitting. In a room to the 
left the children can be heard at supper. 

Mrs. Miller 

Well, Lizzie, she is coming back this evening. 
And I am not sorry. That child Lottie worries 
me dreadfully. So like him I think — dreaming all 
the time and never doing anything. There was 
bad blood there, Lizzie. You remember that 
scrape at the mining camp before he came over 
here. Some say that he was drunk at the time. 

Mrs. Graham 

Of course he was drunk. How else could such 
a sleepy nature be roused to commit a crime? 

Mrs. Miller 

Don't be too sure of the "sleepy natures," 
Lizzie. The worst people I have known have been 
the sleepy ones — their ideas just smoulder and 
smoulder way down under their words, until at 

[5] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

last they get to such a seething state inside they 
just blaze out and scorch everything in reach. 

Mrs. Graham 
Well, I always say, give me a quick tempered 
person to get along with. They spit out whatever 
comes to their mind, and it's out of their system 
for good. 

Mrs. Miller 
Yes, these deep ones — you never know when 
they're going to break out, nor which way they're 
headed. 

Mrs. Graham 
(Looking out of window, attracted by noise.) Oh, 
here they come. Just look at her hat. Did you 
ever see such a big feather? 

[Enter Mrs. Thompson. — A woman 
not very tall, and rather inclined to 
fleshiness. There is a sort of too much- 
ness about her. Too much perfume, too 
much style, — no repose. She is very 
quick and is constantly in motion. 
One could not think consecutively 
while she is in the room. 

Mrs. Thompson 
Good evening, Mrs. Graham. Good evening, 
Mrs. Miller. Well, I'm glad that journey is over. 
[6] 



FIRST ACT 

So hot, and why must the seats in trains be cov- 
ered with plush in summer? There should be a 
law — My, but I'm dirty — where are the children? 
{This all in one breath.) 

Mrs. Miller 
They're eating supper, I'll call them. 

Mrs. Thompson 
No, let them alone, I want to get my breath. 

Mrs. Graham 
Warm in town, I suppose? 

Mrs. Thompson 
Warm! Hot! Awful! (Abstractedly.) Lottie 
been good? 

Mrs. Miller 

(Slowly.) M-m-yes — (Mrs. Thompson turns and 
looks at her.) Why, yes, Lottie has been good. 
She's never what you can call naughty, — not as 
the other children are naughty. I sometimes 
wish she would be, one could manage her better. 
She is unmanageable. 

Mrs. Thompson 

Lottie always was a strange little thing, even as 
a baby; but I've always been glad she wasn't one 
[7] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

of those noisy children who keep one busy looking 
after them. I can't stand noisy children — they 
make me nervous. Why, what has she been doing 
since I've been away? 

Mrs. Miller 

That's just it, Minerva, you have been per- 
fectly contented to let the child do as she pleases 
so long as she keeps quiet and doesn't bother you. 
A child should be taught obedience, respect, and 
attention. Lottie just simply acts as if she doesn't 
hear what is being said to her. Oh, well, Minerva, 
you never had any knack with children anyway. 
[The children enter from the other 
room. Lottie rushes to her mother, 
who kisses her in an abstracted way. 

Lottie 

Oh, mother, what a lovely feather — so like the 
one the Prince wears — 

Mrs. Thompson 

What nonsense is this, my child.'' What are you 
saying about a Prince? 

Mrs. Miller 

There it is, Minerva — that's just what I mean 
— dreams and foolishness all the time. 
[8] 



FIRST ACT 

Peter 

(Going over and standing by Lottie.) Don't you 
care, Lottie. I just love to hear about your 
Prince. Come on down to the little hut we made 
tomorrow and tell me more about him. 

Mrs. Thompson 

I shall need Lottie tomorrow, Peter. I brought 
home some cloth, Lottie, to make two or three 
dresses for you. 

Lottie 

Oh, thank you, mother — is it some pretty color? 

Mrs. Thompson 
It is serviceable, my child, and will wear nicely. 

Lottie 

But, mother, you don't wear clothes that are 
serviceable and wear nicely. You buy pretty 
things for yourself — and sometimes they don't last 
at all. 

Mrs. Graham 

Minerva, don't you think Lottie's dresses 
should be a little longer now? Let me see — 
(slowly) — she was fourteen last spring. Well, I 
told Daddy the other night that I was glad I had 
no girls to bring up. 

[91 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Mrs. Miller 

I'd just as soon bring up girls as the boys that 
you see today. Why most of 'em act just like girls. 
They sit around and read books — poetry books, 
often — and drink tea in the afternoon — and try to 
find what they call a congenial vocation. I tell 
you — the boys were different when I was a girl. 

Peter 

Everything was different when you were a girl, 
Mrs. Graham — but just the same, the boys of 
today are not sissy s. I just love to read poetry — 
or to hear about Lottie's Prince, and everything 
like that — but if a chap makes me mad — it doesn't 
take me long to punch his face. Sometimes it 
gives me a thrill to do it. 

Mary 
What is a thrill, Peter? 

Peter 

A thrill is — oh, a thrill is — something that 
makes you very happy — you feel all tingly . Don't 
you remember that little electric battery that 
Uncle Dick had — when you took hold of the 
handles you felt so funny — well, a thrill is some- 
thing like that, only nicer. 
[10] 



FIRST ACT 

Mary 
I never had a thrill. 

Lottie 
Of course not. 

Mrs. Miller 

{Starting to leave the room.) Minerva, come out 
to the dining room and have some supper. You 
must be starved. It is long past supper time. 

Mrs. Thompson 

The weather is so hot — I think the less one eats 
the better. 

Mrs. Graham 

Well, I am going along. I promised Daddy that 
I would read the paper to him tonight. He 
doesn't care for Peter's reading. Peter only se- 
lects the things that he likes to read himself. 

[They go out, leaving the children 
alone in the room. 

Peter 

Say, did you hear my mother say that I only 
read the things that I liked in the newspapers? 
Well, I don't like the newspapers anyway. I like 
books and magazines — my father just goes to 

[11] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

sleep when you read the paper to him — but he 
imagines that he must hear it every day. Says it 
is his duty to know what is going on in the world. 
I don't believe the papers really tell you what is 
going on in the world. 

Lottie 

When I grow up I am never going to do any- 
thing that is my duty. All the nice things are 
naughty. But I am just going to do the things 
I like. And I shall love all the pretty things, even 
if they are naughty. 

Mary 

Oh, Lottie, you know what Miss Blake told us 
one Sunday — that if we didn't do our duty some 
terrible thing would happen to us. 

Lottie 

Oh, yes, I know, but I think duty is the terrible 
thing — as Miss Blake and Peter's mother and 
your grandmother talk it. I just wish some 
kind person would come along and tell us just 
how duty can be made nice and pleasant. 

Peter 

Say, Lottie, I bet all this old dry stuff is not 
your duty but something pleasant is. I've been 

[12] 



FIRST ACT 

thinking a whole lot lately — and it seems to me 
that the things you love to do must be right. 

Mary 

That is just what grandmother says is a danger- 
ous way to think. 

Petee 
Well, suppose it is a dangerous way to think. 
A chap has to think some way. If I ask mother or 
dad anything, they say — "Peter, that will keep 
till you get older " — but they don't know all these 
things going round in my head that just won't 
wait. 

Lottie 

Mother says that adolescence — that is her name 
for my age at present — is a very happy time. I 
don't believe it. I think it is the saddest time — 
nobody understands you or cares for what you 
think. 

Mary 

Lottie, you and Peter say such strange things. 
I never have such thoughts. 

Lottie 
No, Mary, you are normal. 
[13] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Mary 
What do you mean? 

Lottie 

I don't know exactly — but I think it means 
commonplace — like everybody else. A person 
who enjoys doing his duty. 

Peter 
Gee, then I'm not normal. 

Mrs. Thompson 

(Entering the room.) What are you saying, 
Peter? 

Peter 

I was just refusing to be normal, Mrs. Thomp- 
son. 

Mrs. Thompson 

You run home now, Peter — it is almost your bed- 
time. Tell your mother that I am coming over to 
see her soon. (Peter leaves stage.) Children, what 
were you talking with Peter about just before I 
entered? 

Lottie 

Oh, mother, I said that it was normal to like to 
[14] 



FIRST ACT 

do your duty — and Peter said that he was not 
normal. 

Mrs. Thompson 

Where do you get such ideas, my child.'' I am 
worried about you. Mrs. Miller thinks that it 
might be well for you to go away to boarding 
school. (Slowly.) I wonder — I wonder — 

Lottie 

Mother, I should just love to go away to school, 
— all but leaving Peter. 

Mrs. Thompson 

Perhaps it is best to leave Peter for the present. 
I wish you to associate with girls, child. Later 
when you learn that nice people are always normal 
and dutiful — it will be time enough for you to asso- 
ciate with the boys. 

Lottie 

I hate to think of growing up to be a nice per- 
son. 

Mrs. Thompson 
Lottie, what do you mean.? 

Lottie 
I don't know if I can explain very well, mother; 
115] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

but I am thinking of all the nice persons I know. 
They don't seem happy. I don't see how they 
can be happy, they are so busy doing their duty 
and making others do their duty. I hate the word 
duty — it stiffles me and makes me want to scream. 
[Mrs. Miller has entered in the 

midst of this speech, and now comes 

forward, much shocked. 

Mrs. Miller 

Lottie, you are a wicked, sinful little girl. Can't 
you see how you worry your poor mother with 
such ideas? 

Lottie 

That's what I mean, mother. You and Mrs. 
Miller are doing your duty by me and making 
me unhappy. If I want to put a bright ribbon on 
my hair, because it is a pretty color and makes me 
happy, I'm lectured on the sin of vanity. If I 
want to go out at night and lie down and smell the 
grass and watch the stars, I'm told that the night 
air isn't good for me. Last night there was a 
beautiful sunset with a wonderful sun god riding 
across the sky in a golden cloud-chariot, — but I 
was called in to wipe the dishes. {Getting more 
excited.) Mother, I want to know all about the 
world {goes to the window) . I want to know what 
is beyond those hills over there — I don't want to 
[16] 



FIRST ACT 

be told. I want to see. You nice people don't 
seem to know, and you don't care (hysterically) . 
You are always telling me that I am sinful. Then 
I'd rather be sinful than like you (wildly) . I want 
to be sinful. I want to be happy. I want to be 
happy! (Breaks down and sobs wildly.) 

Mrs. Thompson 

The child is out of her mind (snivelling) . Oh, 
why must such crosses come to me? First her 
father — and now she is — Oh, Mrs. Miller, what 
am I to do.f* 

Mrs. Miller 

She should be sent off to school at once. She 
must have the most rigid discipline. 

Mrs. Thompson 
(Still snivelling.) Lottie — I — 

Mrs. Miller 

Now let me deal with her, Minerva. I've 
brought her out of these tantrums before. (Takes 
lamp from the table and stands before Lottie like a 
relentless angel of vengeance.) Lottie, your mother 
and I are going to leave you alone here in the dark 
to think over your naughtiness. When you are 
sorry you may come and apologize to your mother. 
[17] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

If I were you I should pray for a clean heart. 
Come, Minerva. (Going toward door.) Now as to 
schools, I believe I know the very place. It is said 
to be most high in moral tone and atmosphere, and 
most strict in discipline. (They leave stage still 
talking.) 

[The room is dark except for the 
moonlight, streaming in through the 
window and falling on the sobbing 
form of Lottie. After a moment her 
, sobs cease suddenly and she raises 
her head, her face illumined with a 
sudden hope. 

Lottie 

School — (She goes to the window and looks out) — 
school — that is beyond the hills. {She draws her- 
self up as if to face an ordeal and starts for the door as 
the curtain descends.) 



18] 



SECOND ACT 

(Three Years Elapse) 

LEAVING BOARDING SCHOOL 

iHYLLIS' room at Boarding School, hand- 
somely furnished — mahogany dresser, — cheval glass 
— bed with white hanging counterpane, littered with 
clothing — in one corner of room a gate-legged table 
on which an opened box of candy is seen — a few well- 
chosen pictures on walls — small rugs — a trunk is 
open in center of room — closet door open, showing 
clothing — Phyllis is packing trunk — takes clothes 
off bed and out of closet, folds them, and drops them 
into trunk. While thus occupied, Lottie comes in. 
Phyllis is a girl from the modern radical house- 
hold, using many phrases that she has heard at 
home, parrot-fashion. 



SECOND ACT 

[Lottie knocks at Phyllis' door, and walks right in.] 

Lottie 

Well, dear, you seem to have a great deal to 
pack yet. I finished long ago — but then I had 
nothing much to pack — (wistfully). Can't I help 
you? 

Phyllis 

(Passes her candy.) Oh, no, you sit down and 
have some candy. I can throw these togs into my 
trunk in a jiffy. 

Lottie 

(Selects most comfortable chair and eats candy.) 
It is perfectly lovely of you, Phil, to take me home 
with you. I dreaded having to go back to that 
country village. Of course there is Peter (sadly). 

Phyllis 

How is Peter, Lottie; what is the latest from 
him? 

Lottie 

I had a letter this morning. He is such a brave 
chap. You see, since his father died, he has had 
[21] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

to do everything. He could not leave his mother 
to go away to school. So he has been studying all 
the literature he could get on agriculture and 
scientific farming, and with the help of one old 
farm hand he carries on the place. 

Phyllis 

So that is your idea of a brave chap? One 
whose development proceeds on tradition? Be- 
cause his father was a farmer, and left him a farm, 
you believe he also must be a farmer? 

Lottie 

So far as Peter is concerned, I don't see how he 
could do anything else. 

Phyllis 

Why not, indeed? Surely a fellow can leave 
home, and plan his life to suit himself? 

Lottie 
Yes, Phil, but there is his mother. 

Phyllis 

This sentimental nonsense about fathers and 
mothers makes me rather tired. {Slams down 
trunk lid.) 

[221 



SECOND ACT 

Lottie 
Don't you believe in responsibility? 

Phyllis 

That depends on what you consider responsi- 
bility — if by responsibility you mean that a man 
should submerge his ideals and the working out of 
his own life beneath the wish of another — then 
I don't believe in responsibility. 

Lottie 

But, it is not the wish of his mother — Peter con- 
siders it his duty. 

Phyllis 

(Enter Chubby while Phyllis is talking. Chubby 
goes over and sits on trunk.) Duty is a phantom 
shackle which holds us to the gray rock of re- 
sponsibility. 

Chubby 

Oh, Phil, what have you been reading lately — 
where did you get that? 

Phyllis 
You wouldn't understand if I told you. 
• [23] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Chubby 

Gracious, was it as bad as that? Well, I suppose 
you have both received the lectures on your future. 
Mother Merton just waylaid me when I was com- 
ing in from the garden and passed me mine. 

Lottie 

{Stretching her arms out.) My future will not be 
planned on Miss Merton's copy bookmaxims. lin- 
tend to live. 

Phyllis 

You speak, Lottie, as if you had some definite 
plan. Tell us about it. 

Lottie 

(Draws along breath.) No, I don't believe I have 
yet. I've been trying to form one for a long time 
out of all I have read, and all I have longed for. 
And I have only what I have read, and only what 
I have longed for (pathetically) . I've never been 
told — anything . 

Chubby 

Think of the voyage of discovery that is coming 
to you ! 

Lottie 

Without chart or compass — is that fair? That 
is just the point I've been puzzled over. It doesn't 

[24] . 



SECOND ACT 

seem fair, I just can't make it fair. They tell us 
our elders are wiser than we, and that they know 
what is best. If they are right, then I am wrong— 
I'm all wrong and wicked, — but if I am right — 

Chubby 
How can you know if you are right or not? You 
say that no one has ever told you anything. How 
do you know the things to think about? 

Lottie 
There are things I think about in my own way — 
but I want to know. I want to know the things 
they do not tell you about in schools, the things 
that parents will not explain to you. Of course 
I have my own ideas. 

Phyllis 
(Moving things around on bureau.) What are 
your own ideas? 

Lottie 

I think I should do as I please with myself — 
with my own life, with my own body, — with 
everything. 

Phyllis 

(Parrot-like.) Yes, but you are not all body. 
Perhaps you have forgotten that you have a soul. 

[ 25 ] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Lottie 

No, I haven't — my soul struggles inside always, 
it tortures me, it cries out for beauty — it seems at 
times as if all my body drops away and my soul 
stands out alone, exposed. But my soul wants 
my body to be beautiful — I know it. 

Chubby 

{Giving Lottie a careful look.) Your body is 
beautiful— I was thinking that the other day at 
the gym. 

Lottie 

Oh, girls, you do not understand me — I love my 
body because through it I enjoy life and beauty. 
I want to love. I want to love some one — beauti- 
fully. My mother would never listen when I 
tried to tell her my dreams. She would weep and 
say that I worried her as my father had before me. 
She would ask the advice of some one else — and 
some one else would always decide for her. When 
I tried to ask her the intimate things that a girl 
should know — she looked shocked and said she 
would tell me later — ^but she never did. 

Phyllis 

I read what I pleased for myself. I never 
bothered to ask my parents . I found some medical 

[26] 



SECOND ACT 

books one day and I devoured them. Of course 
my parents talk things over freely and take it for 
granted that we — Russell and I — are getting it. 
(Again the parrot.) With a robust intelligence, of 
course, one can listen to anything. 

Chubby 

My salaams to the robust intelligence — (makes 
a low bow). 

Lottie 

I do not wish to interfere with others in order to 
live my own life — but I have no tools to work 
with — 

Phyllis 

You would not wield the heavy tools that dig 
around deep roots and massive trunks, — ^you care 
only for the leaves and jSowers — 

Lottie 

I love leaves and flowers and color and fra- 
grance, and I am inclined to forget that the roots 
must fasten themselves in the black earth in order 
to produce the leaves and flowers . Yes, Phil, I am 
running all to leaves without root or trunk. Our 
parents and elders should help us with the roots, 
they should tell us everything so we would know 
which way to grow. They are constantly telling 
us to respect them — but they do not respect us. 
[27] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Phyllis 

Parents believe that the exaction of obedience 
is their only duty to their children. Respect 
would weaken their ruling power. 

Chubby 

{Standing upon trunk and declaiming in a loud 
voice with much gesture.) On your right, ladies and 
gentlemen, you see the famous Phyllis Jabber 
Wockus, eats a dictionary at every meal, and 
washes it down with a Fabian Tract! Perfectly 
harmless, ladies and gentlemen, those wild, in- 
coherent cries are caused by an attack of acute 
Shavian indigestion from which the very young of 
the species suffer greatly of late. 

Lottie 

Do get down. Chubby, and tell us what Miss 
Merton advises for your future? Does she know 
of your stage aspirations.? 

Chubby 

(Gets down.) No, indeed, as Phil would say — 
"she would not understand." Mother has de- 
cided that I am to go to college and has talked it 
over with Miss Merton, — so why should I inter- 
rupt the plan of the dear ladies until I have 
[28] 



SECOND ACT 

selected the dramatic school where I mean to 
attend? 

Phyllis 

I suppose you have heard of the best laid plans 
of mice and men? 

Chubby 
Yes, Bromidia, darling. 

Lottie 

I should hate the stage — while I was actually 
out before the footlights playing my part I might 
be able to tolerate it — but the ugly dressing rooms, 
the coarse people one frequently must play with, 
the inartistic rush — oh, horrors ! — 

Phyllis 

One can be too greatly interested in beauty. 
We should look below the tinted surface and 
study the features. 

Chubby 

I often wonder if you stay up nights commit- 
ting phrases — or if they keep you in a cage when 
you are at home and feed you crackers. 

Lottie 
The bird is pretty enough to keep in a cage. 

[29] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

{Looking affectionately at Phyllis.) I love that 
dress you are wearing today, Phil. 

Phyllis 

Do you think that you would care less for me if 
I wore old shabby clothes? 

Lottie 

I should try not to care less for you, dear, but 
it might be a struggle. I love pretty clothes, and 
people who are graceful enough to wear them 
nicely. 

Chubby 

I am going to skip and write two or three letters 
before leaving — I suppose you girls are going on 
that five o'clock? See you later down stairs. 
(Chubby leaves stage.) 

Lottie 

{Putting her arm around Phyllis.) Oh, Phil, 
sometimes our dreams come true — sometimes 
we get what we wish for. I have always wanted 
to live in a large handsome house where a number 
of servants are kept. Where there is a lovely 
garden and one may sit out under the trees and 
drink tea in the afternoon. You are such a dear 
to rescue me from that little country place where 
farming is the only thought. 
[30] 



SECOND ACT 

Phyllis 

Have you forgotten that Peter is a brave chap 
because he carries on his father's farm? 

Lottie 

I never forget Peter, — not really. If Peter 
could only go away and live as he wishes! He 
loves the beautiful things just as I do — ^but he has 
strength enough to resist them — and think of his 
duty. 

Phyllis 

Duty again! — It is not duty to live a dull and 
uninteresting life mapped out by others — it is 
lack of courage. 

Lottie 

(Thoughtfully.) Perhaps it is the highest cour- 
age to live your life for others. 

Phyllis 

No, you owe it to yourself to find your work — 
and then pursue it without allowing anyone to 
interrupt you. 

Lottie 

It is very hard to find your work. Some of us 
never find our work. I would not know my work 
if I met it face to face. 

[31] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Phyllis 

(Starting to pack again.) Haven't you some idea 
about what you would like to do? 

Lottie 

I only know that I wish to do something that 
will be beautiful. I would like to paint beautiful 
pictures, to play wonderful music — wonderfully. 
I always want to bow to a beautiful flower — to 
stretch my arms up to the golden sunset — when 
thetreespaint their reflection on a quiet lake in the 
evening — and the little stars peek over the edge of 
some fleecy cloud. I am stunned by the beauty 
of it all — it makes me feel weak. I want to cry — 
I want — oh, I don't know what I want — 

Phyllis 

You must think of something besides externals 
— you must — 

Lottie 
I try to — I try to care for what Mrs. Miller, an 
old lady at home, used to call homely virtues. 
Sometimes I have long talks with myself — and 
would you believe it, dear, it is usually at dawn, I 
wake up and I think how small and silly I am, how 
different from others — different from you and 
Chubby and all the other girls here. If I have 
[32] 



SECOND ACT 

done something wrong during the previous day 
I scold myself for it — and really I feel very sorry 
and mean to do better. 

Phyllis 

Poor Lottie, how long do your resolutions of the 
dawn last? 

Lottie 

That's just it — when I get up and go down 
stairs and see one of the girls with her hair all 
awry and her dress not carefully put on, I forget 
all her good qualities that I promised myself I 
should see — and I become that silly person again. 

Phyllis 

But do you feel genuinely sorry for your short- 
comings when you wake at dawn — to have it out 
with yourself? 

Lottie 

Oh, yes, and sorry for anything I have done to 
hurt another person. Do you consider this a 
hopeful sign? 

Phyllis 

I cannot tell, dear, perhaps you are disappointed 
because you have offended your artistic sense. 
You always wish to do the pretty, graceful thing. 

[33] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Lottie 

Yes, Phil, but that is not all. With you it has 
been so different. You have always been sur- 
rounded by beautiful things — you have never 
had to long for them. I have seen them only in 
dreams — and no one would understand my 
dreams. 

Phyllis 

Your dreams may not be understood but you 
will find persons some day who will listen to 
them — men, of course. 

Lottie 
My mother would never listen to anything — 
in fact, she never had time for me — she always 
wanted some one else to take care of me. She used 
to say that children made her nervous. Would 
you believe it, she has only written to me twice 
since I have been here at school. 

Phyllis 
Never mind, dear, your mother cannot live 
your life for you, anyway. We must live our own 
lives. My mother has her ideas — and I have 
mine — we get on very nicely. 

Lottie 
Tell me something about your brother? Is he 
as handsome as his picture? 
[34] 



SECOND ACT 



Phyllis 



He is considered very good looking. He has 
been out of college three years. He wears his 
clothes well, has his nails manicured regularly — 
and he will listen to your dreams. Gracious, dear ! 
(Looks at watch, startled.) It is nearly five — and 
all those long goodbyes yet — run and grab your 
things and we will skip downstairs. (Lottie leaves 
stage.) 

[Phyllis goes over and locks her 
trunk. She raises her head slowly 
and stands a moment thinking. 

Phyllis 

Yes, she is right — she is all leaves and foliage — 
yet— 

[Curtain] 



[35] 



THIRD ACT 

IRE garden at the home of Mr. Leighton. At left 
a tea table, with service, is placed under a tree, two 
chairs are placed at table. Lottie Thompson occu- 
pies one. At right is a garden seat, occupied by Dr. 
Von Blatz. Near front of stage, quite in the fore- 
ground, Phyllis Leighton is sitting with an open 
book in her hand. The house is at back of stage, with 
flight of steps, leading to opened door. The idea of 
late summer everywhere. 



THIRD ACT 



Dk, Von Blatz 



And so you see, my dear Miss Thompson, by 
this method we can readily determine the capaci- 
ties as well as the incapacities of each individual 
case. The deficient cells of the brain we let alone 
as there is nothing there with which to assimilate 
suggestions : but on the other hand, the cells that 
are capable of grasping and retaining impressions 
are developed to the utmost, for most defectives 
are capable of development in some special line. 

Lottie 

It is indeed interesting, but is it not necessary 
to begin with your patients at a very early age? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

No age is hopeless. There is usually hope in 
some direction. It is a question of changing the 
brain habits. If one has tried to use the cells that 
are short, — we speak of cells being long and short 
for convenience, — we but change the current and 
direct it into the long cells. It is frequently found 
that a person who has tried vainly for years to 
develop in a certain direction, may succeed along 
[39] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

a very different line to the great surprise of him- 
self and his friends. I am speaking now of the 
normal person who has been using his short cells. 

Lottie 

You do not hold to the theory, then, that the 
very early impressions of the child will color his 
entire Hie? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

The early impressions are very important. Miss 
Thompson, but we are continually reborn. Our 
minds should be cleared every once in a while of 
old ideas when they have served their purpose. 
It is not the gift of remembrance, but the trick 
of forgetting, which we need to cultivate. 

Phyllis 

(Looking up from her book.) Oh, but there are 
things we must remember — things we should 
never forget. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Yes, but we should choose carefully the things 
to be remembered. When we are normal, re- 
membering and forgetting is a question of our 
will. 

[Enter Mr. and Mrs. Leighton, and 
Russell. 

[40] 



THIRD ACT 

Mrs. Leighton 

{Sits heside Dr. Von Blatz on divan.) Well, this 
looks cool and comfortable. {Shakes hands with 
doctor.) How do you do, Dr. Von Blatz. How is 
the new hospital coming on? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Splendidly. I have just been telling Miss 
Thompson and Phyllis something of our work. 

Mr. Leighton 

{Standing at left of stage.) Are we then too late? 
I have been anxious to hear your theories on re- 
birth. 

Russell 

{Sits down opposite Lottie at tea table.) Oh, yes, 
do tell us how a chap gets a second whack at the 
game. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Well, Russell, a chap can get a second, or third, 
or any number of whacks at the game, if he knows 
how to play it. 

Phyllis 

It's different from bridge, Russell — the idea is 
to forget — not to remember. 
141] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Mrs. Leighton 
How is it possible to forget deliberately? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

We throw into the rubbish heap today the faded 
flowers that were so brilliant and beautiful yes- 
terday — or if we keep them we press them in a 
book — put it away on some old shelf and — forget 
it. 

Mrs. Leighton 

Yes, but some day we may take the book 
from the old shelf, and find the faded flower, and 
it may recall some pleasant moment. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Perhaps, and if it recalls a pleasant moment we 
may feel repaid — but if we had taken the flower 
from the grave of a loved one, who had erred un- 
fortunately — it might recall the unfortunate 
circumstance. 

Mr. Leighton 

So you believe that we should only remember 
the pleasant places in our lives and forget the 
shadows? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

No, I do not mean that, — that would be delib- 
erately carrying along the faded flowers after 

[42] 



THIRD ACT 

their usefulness is gone. Whatever is good must 
go on anyway. The fragrance of the flower has 
been cast upon the air — the rest crumbles into 
dust — we need make no effort to recall the appear- 
ance of the dust. 

Lottie 

Don't you think that we must atone for the 
wrong we do.? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

We always do, my dear young lady — but we 
can will how our atonement is to be managed. It 
is for us to decide whether we will grovel beside 
the ruin of our error or build something new 
and beautiful in its place. 

Mr. Leighton 

I can understand how one may forget a petty 
error — ^but suppose one were to commit a crime, 
a terrible crime of the haunting sort — one that 
dogged your footsteps always.? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

The element of greatness is the same in its 
essence — the brain that can conceive a great 
crime can conceive as great a good. It is using its 
long cells — it but needs the force of will that en- 

[43] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

gineered the great crime to change the current in 
the cells. The great sinner makes the great saint. 

Russell 

Would it not be a dangerous philosophy to 
teach the young? According to that a man could 
do most anything and get away with it. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

People do not sin deliberately for the sake of 
forgetting later. Rebirth is to lead them out of the 
labyrinth of despair. 

Phyllis 

There seems to be no place for prisons in your 
philosophy? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

There is no place for prisons — neither in my 
philosophy nor any other man's. Prisons rise up 
and cry "no" to all philosophy. They bar a man 
from his atonement. 

Mrs. Leighton 

But is it not necessary to have prisons to re- 
strain those who would injure others? 

[44] 



THIRD ACT 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Yes, if we restrain those who would injure others. 
Those who by verbal tricks and bribery gamble 
with human life. 

Mrs. Leighton 

What would you do with all the vice that is 
running rampant around us — all the vicious ten- 
dencies.? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

I should look behind the vice and the vicious- 
ness and see what is causing it. I think the real 
criminals are the unprepared parents. 

Mrs. Leighton 
The unprepared parents — 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Yes, Mrs. Leighton, people who have children 
without giving thought to the consequences. 
Parents should prepare for children spiritually, 
morally, physically. Think what it means to 
bring a human being into the world. It is the 
most important thing in life. It should be raised 
to a sanctification. My work would not be nec- 
essary if parents were prepared . Not necessary in 

[45] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

individual cases. At present, we can only work 
with the material at hand and reconstruct it as 
best we can. 

Russell 

(Getting up and looking at his watch.) Lottie, if 
we intend to see that tennis match at the club, 
we had better go along. 

Mrs. Leighton 

Phil and I will ride over with you as far as 
Townleys. Come, Phil dear. {Shakes hands with 
doctor.) Won't you join us later at dinner? 

[Phil and Russell stand waiting 
near exit. 

Dr. Von Blatz 
No, thank you, I must get back to the hospital. 

Lottie 

(Goes over to doctor.) You have given me so 
many new ideas. I feel almost bewildered. It is 
like stepping out into the light — suddenly. 

[Lottie and Mrs. Leighton join 

Phil and Russell. They leave stage. 

[Mr. Leighton and Dr. Von Blatz 

seat themselves. Mr. Leighton passes 

the doctor a cigar. 

[46] 



THIRD ACT 

Mr. Leighton 

Well, doctor, so the dream is realized at last, 
and your hospital actually open. It has been a 
long fight, hasn't it.? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

It has been all of that. How people have clung 
to their faded flowers. Even the scientific world 
clings now and then to its little crumbled gods and 
dusty symbols of past experience. 

Mr. Leighton 

I have been reading your latest book, and al- 
though you use only mental defectives for your 
working material, it strikes me that certain the- 
ories you present would work as well or better if 
applied to normal life. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Yes, the life of Miss Thompson, for instance. 
There is material that interests me. 

Mr. Leighton 
What a strange, romantic little thing she is! 

Dr. Von Blatz 
Romantic, yes, a soul attuned to beauty like a 

{47] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

delicate instrument whose notes will sing or sob 
according to the hand that strikes the cords. 

Mr. Leighton 
She loves beauty — but not in its large sense. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

That is due to lack of training. Poor child, she 
cannot penetrate beneath the surface yet. 

Mr. Leighton 

Do you think she will ever penetrate beneath 
the surface? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Yes, if the shock is great enough. She is the 
sort that must be startled violently — then that 
love of beauty will be diverted into the right 
channels, and she will see the vigorous beauty in 
the things that now she is afraid to contemplate. 

Mr. Leighton 

Your theory is very interesting for individuals, 
but could it be applied in a broader way — for ex- 
ample, how would it work if applied to groups, or 
to nations.? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Certainly, nations should be reborn, and in 
their birth struggles they should be assisted by 

[48] 



THIRD ACT 

other nations. The great collective thought force 
of a nation may have erred in judgment as an in- 
dividual may err. 

Mb. Leighton 

But if a nation has used its collective thought 
force to destroy all other nations, should not such 
an element of destruction be in turn annihilated? 

Dr. Von Blatz 
By no means, if the thought force was powerful 
enough to conceive such colossal destruction — 
that same power should be diverted into other 
channels — and made to reconstruct what it has 
destroyed. 

Mr. Leighton 

There are things that are destroyed irrevocably 
— things that cannot be reconstructed. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

There are old laws and beliefs that pass after 
their usefulness is gone, but on their ruins some- 
thing finer may be erected. 

Mr. Leighton 

Your ideas are certainly hopeful — and the world 
needs something hopeful. 
[491 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Dr. Von Blatz 

You must come down to the hospital some day 
and let me explain to you just how we work. We 
build up the body first; but our chief work is with 
a sick mind and a sick soul. ( Takes wp his hat, and 
prepares to leave.) 

Mr. Leighton 

I shall anticipate the visit with a great deal of 
pleasure. 

[While they are talking they walk 
toward the steps leading to the house. 
Mr. Leighton mounts a step or two, 
then turns and carelessly places his 
hand on the doctor's shoulder. 
Good luck to your new work, old man, let us 
hear from it often. 

[Mr. Leighton enters house. Doc- 
tor leaves stage. 

[Enter Lottie and Russell, who 
walk over and sit together on garden 
seat. 

Lottie 

No, please don't talk like that, you — ^you 
frighten me. 

Russell 
Why.? What is there to be frightened about.? 
[60] 



THIRD ACT 

I thought you intended to do the things that 
pleased you? Now, where is your courage? 

Lottie 

It requires more than courage — it requires the 
sacrifice of one's friends. 

Russell 

In the days of our grandmothers, perhaps, but 
the world looks upon things differently today. 
We do not lose our friends today — our real friends 
— ^just because we live as we choose. 

Lottie 

I agree with you, one should live one's own life 
— but it's the knowing how to live it that troubles 
me — if I only knew — 

Russell 

{Putting his arm round the back of the seat.) We 
should find happiness in our own way. That is 
the right of each of us. Oh, darling, listen to 
me. (Reaches his arms to her.) You know how I 
love you! 

Lottie 

I cannot believe it — I must not believe it. 

[51] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Russell 

I'll make your life beautiful. I'll make the 
world beautiful for you. I will give you your 
dreams. 

Lottie 

But, if the happiness should not come — and the 
dreams not be realized? 

Russell 

The happiness will come to us, darling — it is for 
us — do trust me — we will live for each other — we 
do not need the old creeds and the old laws to live 
by — we will weave a new fabric for our lives — 
and into it, dear, we will weave threads of gold 
and beauty. 

Lottie 

How I have longed for beauty — I must have 
beauty. I cannot be content with just dreaming 
of it any longer. I cannot be like so many of those 
women back home; dried up, withered and sour, 
— all because they didn't dare — they didn't even 
dare to dream. They thought it must be wrong, 
just because it was beautiful. 

Russell 

Well, I dare, and you must. We'll give the lie 

[52] 



THIRD ACT 

to all dull good people who do not understand 
youth and beauty and dreams. 

Lottie 

Russell, you do not know how hard it is to live 
in a little country village where the affairs of each 
other and the care of crops are the only subjects 
of conversations. Nature is beautiful up there — 
but they do not see it, and they resent your men- 
tioning it. 

Russell 

Of course you cannot return to such a life — you 
must not think of it. 

Lottie 

{Thinking of the doctor.) Do you ever wonder 
what some one else would do if he were facing 
your problem.? When you have to decide about 
something do you ever try to imagine what some 
friend would do if he were in your place? Or, if you 
should ask the advice of some one do you ever try 
to think what it would he? 

Russell 

No, in this world we must decide for ourselves 
in the end — so we may as well do it at first. 
Others do not know what is best for us — only we 
know that. 

[53] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Lottie 

But do we know — some of us — when we have 
nothing to compare from — no way of judging — 
when we are lost in the woods and do not know 
which path to take? 

Russell 

If you were lost in the woods, you would take 
the most beautiful path — the path lined with 
blossoming trees of gorgeous colors — the path of 
the golden sunlight — and you would be right, 
darling, for I would be waiting for you on that 
path. 

Lottie 

Your words are beautiful. Almost, they per- 
suade me. I feel so sure of myself and you — 
when you are talking. It is only when I think of 
people I get frightened. 

Russell 

Why think of people, dear? We have each other 
— and our love. 

Lottie 

I lack courage not to think of people. All of 
my life I've been ruled by other people's "must" 
and "must not." 

[54] 



THIRD ACT 

Russell 

Then be ruled by my must — let me be your 
world. 

Lottie 

(Swept away suddenly by this touch of mastery — 
where persuasion has failed. She speaks agitat- 
edly, breathlessly.) Be my world — my beauty- 
filled world — my beauty-filled world! 

Russell 

(Takes her in his arms passionately.) Lottie, 
my little fragile flower. God, how lovely you are ! 
I must, I will have you ! I'll take you away with 
me to some beautiful spot, where no one will find 
us, and never let you go. Heavens, you are so 
delicate, — so lovely ! 

Lottie 
(In ecstasy.) Take me ! 

[Curtain] 



[55] 



FOURTH ACT 

A, NEW ENGLAND "sitting room," unattrac- 
tive and over-crowded with knickknacks. A clash of 
colors. The furniture is mostly of that period of ex- 
treme ugliness, the middle part of the last century. 

Marble-topped table in center of room; a horse- 
hair sofa at the right with crocheted "tidies" on the 
back of it, and on the backs of chairs; at the left of 
table a heavy upholstered arm chair with faded and 
tattered covering; a few other chairs about. A cottage 
organ is set across one corner of the room. A what- 
not filled with china and seashell junk in another 
corner. Windows in the right wall. A door at the 
back and one at left. 

Dr. Von Blatz and Mrs. Thompson are engaged 
in conversation. 



FOURTH ACT 

Mrs. Thompson 

I have said very little to her since she returned. 
I just can't — my heart is broken. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

But think of her heart. It has been wrenched 
and torn and battered by experience. We must 
help her now to live. 

Mrs. Thompson 

(Hysterically.) Think of the disgrace — the aw- 
ful disgrace. It is her father's bad blood. My 
folks have always been God-fearing people — who 
shunned evil. He was different — a wild rover who 
feared neither God, man, nor devil, and broke 
every law. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

"God-fearing," "bad blood" — two phrases we 
conjure with, and work evil spells. We tell people 
to "fear God," and immediately they run from 
what they fear. We stamp persons with "bad 
blood" — we anoint their souls with "bad blood," 
we instill the mental suggestion of "bad blood" 
into their consciousness and subconsciousness. 
[59] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Blood never is bad in the beginning until thought 
turns it so. 

Mrs. Thompson 

How did she find you.f* How did she ever tell 

you? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

I met her before she went away with Russell. 
Thank Heaven, she thought of me in her distress. 
One bitter cold night, about six weeks ago, the 
woman who conducted the lodging house where 
she was staying, brought me a letter that the poor 
child had dictated to her, telling me of her illness, 
and asking me to come to her. 

Mrs. Thompson 

Where was the boy — this Russell, as you cal 
him? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

She had left him — ^because of his attentions to 
other women. He was no longer kind to her. 

Mrs. Thompson 
Do you suppose she cared for him? 

Dr. Von Blatz ^ 
No, she told me frankly that she did not love 
him — but sawinhim the realization of her dreams. 
[60] 



FOURTH ACT 

He was the key with which to unlock all material 
chests, where soft luxury is kept. 

Mrs. Thompson 
And she did not care for him ? She had not even 
that excuse? 

Dr. Von Blatz 
She had the excuse of loving beauty — but not 
the ability to translate that love correctly. 

Mrs. Thompson 
Did you attend to the burial of the child? 

Dr. Von Blatz 
Yes, the child was born dead — the physician 
was just leaving when I arrived. 

Mrs. Thompson 
What a blessing it died. 

Dr. Von Blatz 
Yes, Lottie was not ready to be a mother. 
Premature mothers are more deserving of pity 
than undesired children. 

Mrs. Thompson 
How many people know about it? I have said 
nothing here to the neighbors. They simply know 

[61] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

that Lottie has been sick, but they don't know the 
particulars — of course the Leightons would not 
mention it — perhaps we can keep it a secret — 
almost — (eagerly) . 

Dr. Von Blatz 
Of course you must not talk of it to people, and 
above everything not to Lottie — constant talking 
on the subject would delay her development. 

Mrs. Thompson 
I must niove from this town. I cannot stay 
here. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Then move by all means, and take Lottie with 
you. 

Mrs. Thompson 

Would it be best for her to go with me? She 
has acted so badly — so badly. She might do some 
wild thing again — I can't stand it — I have had 
to bear so much. 

Dr. Von Blatz 
Do you intend to live somewhere in smug 
self-righteousness, and send her away alone.? 

Mrs. Thompson 
You act as though I was the one to blame — as 
though it was my fault. 

[62] 



FOURTH ACT 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Not your fault, my poor woman. You brought 
a child into the world. A creature different from 
you and your people, I'll grant you. A fine white 
flame, fanned by every wind. An instrument 
attuned and responsive to all music. A being that 
thrilled to all beauty — only you could not teach 
her to distinguish between real beauty and the 
mirage. You were not equal to her potential 
intelligence. 

Mrs. Thompson 

If we go away together to some other town do 
you think she would deny everything for my sake 
and her own? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

She will not need to deny it. No one will talk 
to her on the subject. 

Mrs. Thompson 

If I could only believe that she will not do some- 
thing else sometime. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Mrs. Thompson, Nature has taught your 

daughter a lesson — ^has spoken to her in a voice 

harsh and vibrant with intensity. She does not 

always choose an interpreter — but she speaks to 

[63] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

us directly — she holds us while we listen — and 
then we must — we must hear. Lottie has received 
the benefit from this lesson — nothing more of 
good can be hoped for by talking about it. 

Mrs. Thompson 

There is Peter Graham. He has always 
thought pretty well of Lottie — he was delighted 
when he heard she had returned. Do you think 
she might tell him? {A door slams.) Ssh' Ssh' — 
here she is-^ ^^^^^^ ^.o^tg and Peter. A sort of 
silence falls upon the room for a mo- 
ment, something drear and hopeless 
cast by the mother. Lottie is apathetic 
and fragile, but one feels the spark 
of determination still glowing within 
her. Peter is rather white and his 
mouth grim. He holds his head up 
with that unnatural stiffness that 
proclaims the effort to do so. 

Lottie 

Dr. Von Blatz, I want you to meet my friend 
Peter Graham. (The two men shake hands.) 

Dk. Von Blatz 
Peter, I am happy to meet you. Lottie has 
often spoken to me of you. 
[64] 



FOURTH ACT 

Lottie 

(With a resolute, half-defiant air.) Mother, Dr. 
Von Blatz, — I have told Peter — everything. 

Dr. Von Blatz 
My poor child — 

Mrs. Thompson 
Lottie! How could you.? 

Lottie 
I had to. Peter is my oldest friend — my only 
friend in this place. He asked me about my life 
at the Leightons — about what happened since I 
left them — and I had to tell him the truth — 
I wished to tell him the truth. 

Mrs. Thompson 
(Weeping.) There, doctor, what did I tell you? 
She cares nothing for me or herself. 

Peter 
If she had lied to me would it have shown that 
she cared for you and herself? 

Mrs. Thompson 
You do not understand the disgrace of having 
the village people know the story. 
[65] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Peter 

I cannot understand any disgrace where Lottie 
is concerned. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

{Realizing that here is a real person at last.) 
Well said, my boy. Disgrace is a flying germ that 
fastens in the minds that will receive it, and 
breeds intolerance. 

Lottie 

Mother, I am so tired of your prating about 
disgrace, so very tired of it; after all it is what you 
consider your disgrace that you fear. 

Mrs. Thompson 

You and the doctor think with your fine stories, 
made up before you came back here, that you can 
change my mind about sin. 

Peter 

Lottie cannot change your ideas, Mrs. Thomp- 
son, but at least she can stand firm on her own. 

Mrs. Thompson 

You are a rightly brought up boy, Peter, but 
she has bewitched you, too. A man will always 
stand by a woman of her kind. 
166] 



FOURTH ACT 

Peter 
Thank God for that. It's a worthy kind. 

Lottie 

{To doctor.) I have been telling Peter about 
your kind offer — and my chance. 

Mrs. Thompson 

{Becoming interested.) An offer.? What sort 
of an offer, if I may ask.? 

Lottie 

Dr. Von Blatz has a hospital for defective 
children. He wishes me to assist him in one of the 
departments. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Lottie would be a great help to my poor children 
now. 

Mrs. Thompson 
Oh, I dare say! (With contempt.) 

Dr. Von Blatz 
Then you have decided to accept my offer? 

Lottie 

I feel that I should do something useful — it has 
all been such a waste — my poor silly life. I have 

[67] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

been talking with Peter. He has done so much — 
so much for others. 

Peter 

I have only done what I had to do, the thing 
that stood before me. I think we all have to do 
that. After all, Lottie, you, too, have done that. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

The thing that stands before us looms big in 
our pathway — it overpowers us and we follow it — 
but, during the winding journey it takes, many 
lights are thrown upon it — from many angles we 
see it in its true proportions — and it no longer 
frightens us. 

Mrs. Thompson 

Well, I suppose if you have decided to go and 
work in a hospital it is useless for me to say any- 
thing. 

Lottie 

Quite useless, mother, you are as incapable of 
guiding my future life as you have been of my 
past. 

Mrs. Thompson 

(Going out and slamming door.) You always 
have done as you pleased, and I suppose you al- 
ways will. 

[68] 



FOURTH ACT 

Dr. Von Blatz 

My dear child, can you be ready to leave with 
me tomorrow evening? 

Lottie 
Yes, doctor. 

Peter 

Oh, are you going to take Lottie away again, 
so soon? 

Dr. Von Blatz 

Yes, I think it best — if she will allow me to de- 
cide for her. 

Peter 

Yes, I suppose you are right — I know you are 
right — but I had hopes of Lottie staying here a 
while; thought we might fight it out together 
somehow — if she'd let me fight for her. {With 
sudden passion.) I'd kill anyone who dared say a 
word about her. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

I am sure that she has a real friend in you — but 
at present she needs to forget. And taking up this 
new work she will have the opportunity to re- 
lease those splendid potentialities within her, and 
start again. Think of it, Peter, building souls, 
to put life and beauty into what is hardly more 
[69] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

than clay, why it is creation — almost — Peter — 
soul-building. 

Peter 

Lottie told me about your great work. How 
you always give something for what you take 
away. It is easy to tell a person to forget a sorrow 
and then leave him — but to fill up his whole mind 
with something else — so he has no room for the 
sorrow to fit in — that is great. 

Lottie 

It is great, Peter, the greatest thing in the 
world. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

If all the energy and thought force in the world, 
that is wasted on useless regret, could be collected 
into one great holding of power it could accom- 
plish what all the wars and absurdities never will 
be able to achieve. 

Peter 

My father used to say that if one did something 
wrong one should suffer- — should wish to suffer. 
Somehow I never could think as he did. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

A deliberate suffering will never expiate a 
wrong — although there are those unhealthy- 

[70] 



FOURTH ACT 

minded ones who get a sensual delight from such 
torture. 

Lottie 

If I had not thought of you at a certain dark 
moment of my life — I should have been another 
of those unfortunate ones — but my suffering would 
not have been deliberate. It would have been a 
shadow standing at my side that I could not es- 
cape from — although I know I should have tried. 

Dr. Von Blatz 

The deliverance always comes searching us in 
the dark hour — but by shutting ourselves close 
within our sorrow — we often fail to see it. (Takes 
out his watch. Arises while speaking.) Now, I will 
find your mother and explain our going away to 
her — if I can. 

[Dr. Von Blatz leaves stage. 

Peter 

May I come and see you some time at the hos- 
pital? You will never know how I missed you all 
the long time you were away. 

Lottie 

And I missed you too, Peter. Now I know that 
it was you I missed. 

[71] 



A MODERN PHENIX 

Peter 
(Eagerly.) Really, Lottie, — really? 

Lottie 

Yes, when I was trying to fill up my life with 
parties and dresses — I was all the time longing for 
something else — and now I know that it was an 
old friend — I wanted to see you, Peter. 

Peter 

You must never include me in your forgetting — 
I could not bear it. Will you let me help you if I 
can ever do anything? The doctor is a wonderful 
friend — but I want to do something for you, too 
— do let me. 

Lottie 

You have done something, Peter. When I left 
the house this evening I felt that I could stand 
things no longer. I wanted to run away out of the 
sound of my mother's voice — it seemed as if 
even the doctor could no longer sustain my 
strength. I ran like a hunted thing — then I met 
you in the dark down there in the lane — you 
put out your arms — and spoke my name — (ex- 
citedly) — Oh, Peter, you have done something. 



[72] 



FOURTH ACT 

Peter 

I have done nothing — but I want to. Dear, this 
village is not the whole world — not a tiny part of 
it. My work seemed to be here, so I have stayed 
— but now I wish to go — to go away with you. 

Lottie 

Not yet, Peter. I must give myself — all of my- 
self — to my work for a time. Anything less than 
that would not be fair to the doctor — neither 
would it be fair to you, nor to those I am to serve. 
Later when I have accomplished something — 
when I have builded well the structure of my soul, 
perhaps then, Peter, perhaps — if you still wish it — 

Peter 

{Taking her in his arms.) If I still wish it — 

[Enter Dr. Von Blatz — they turn 
and look at him — he regards them for a 
moment — then — 

Dr. Von Blatz 

From the ashes of despair — the phenix soars to 
life. 

[Curtain] 



73 



Seaver-HowianoPb 

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